


Little Girl Lost

by adeclanfan



Series: Elizabeth!Verse [15]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-20
Updated: 2012-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-29 19:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/323566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeclanfan/pseuds/adeclanfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen Bancroft is a woman with a mission. Avoiding changes to the timeline doesn't mean not trying to take care of the people you love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Girl Lost

Author's Chapter Notes:  
Tissue alert.  
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Magnus signed the visitor log at the third and final orphanage in Moscow as Helen Bancroft and asked to see the ward with the youngest children, displaying her identification badge to the nurses. Her status as a doctor with the Red Cross, and her command of so many languages made her welcome in many of the foundling homes all over the Soviet Union.

Helen didn't mind lending a hand and giving comfort when she could, but it was just a convenient cover for her true purpose. She was looking for Elizabeth. If her age calculations were correct, Elizabeth was anywhere from an infant to a preschooler right now. And, most likely already lost her parents.

James had looked for the girl's family in the UK and North America, even some of the other countries Europe, but he never thought to try further East. It was only an offhand comment about Siberian tiger cubs from Nikola that made Helen consider it. She confronted him and managed to get Nikola to admit a hasty, “She tastes Russian.” It took every ounce of self-control not to smack him, but she managed.

The hint set Helen on her current path, and while she would not directly interfere with the time-line that would lead Elizabeth to her safe, happy home with James, Helen had become quite adept at steering things in a more positive direction when she could. The least she could do was make sure Elizabeth was healthy and growing well.

The nursery ward was clean and surprisingly quiet. It was mid-morning and all the breakfast feedings were done and most of the babies and toddlers were in playpens ringing one central area with mats on the floor and small bin of well loved toys. Helen moved around the circle peering at each little face and hoping to see familiar eyes, or a chubby babyish face that echoed the face she loved so much.

The last high sided crib yielded a surprise for Helen. “Oh dear God!”

The nurse hurried over to her, afraid something was wrong with the crib's occupants. She gestured to them, and asked if something was wrong. Helen assured her that she was just overcome by the beautiful babies.

Not one as she expected, but two perfect little Elizabeth faces blinked up at her. The one on the right had more reddish wisps of baby hair, was laying on her back and sucking at a pacifier contentedly, while the one on the left was sitting up on her own and chewed her fingers and drooled around newly sprouted front teeth. They looked to be about nine months old, with a little plumpness to show they were getting enough to eat. Two healthy, well cared for little babies, and they were fine apart from being without loving parents and a houseful of other siblings.

Helen, on the other hand, was in shock. Her Elizabeth had an identical twin. Where was her twin, now? Why had they been separated? Who would do such a despicable thing? Didn't those poor babies deserve to grow up knowing they at least had one blood family member left? Each question made Helen more and more angry.

The baby that was on her back rolled onto her tummy and lifted her little upper body in a push-up. The workout caused her pacifier to slip out of her mouth, and that was not acceptable, she started to whimper and it soon became a howl that startled the other baby and caused her to lose her precarious balance and topple onto her side. Helen was moving to pick the crying infant up, but before she could, the other Elizabeth touched her sister and the baby hiccuped once, then sighed and stopped crying. It was as if as soon as the babies touched, a circuit was completed and they were both fine, again.

The nurse picked the baby up and put her in a sitting position, but she wobbled a little and couldn't seem to get the hang of uprightness. There was a pillow hanging outside the crib on a hook and the nurse took it and used it to form a cushioned semi-circle around the wobbly little body.

The nurse smiled at Helen, gesturing to the other baby who was already back in sitting position and kicking a foot at her sister, “She sit good, da?”

“Very good.”

“This baby,” She indicated the baby that needed the pillow, “she was very sick when she come here from Ukraine. It take her time to catch up with twin.”

Helen nodded, “That's understandable. Twins are never exactly on the same schedule. Would you like me to check them all out while I am here? Are there any babies who are sick?”

The nurse nodded, “Da. We do not get real doctor here more than once a month. There are too many small ones from all of Soviet Union who are sent here to Moscow.”

“What will happen to them? You won't separate them, will you?”

The nurse shrugged, “Most families cannot take two babies at once. We will do best to find homes for them while they are still infants and most people want them. Younger is better.”

“Do they have names?” Helen asked, quietly, considering them and their situation.

“We just call them twins.”

Helen frowned, “They should have names. Good, strong names.”

“What would you name them, Doctor from England?” The nurse smiled at her. “Would you call them for Queens of your country, like Victoria and Elizabeth?” The names came out sounding more like Veectoria and Eelissabeeth, but it would do.

That made Helen laugh, “Oh, yes, I think those are perfect names for beautiful little girls from the Ukraine.”

The nurse shrugged and picked up their chart and pulled out her pen. “I will take the doctor's recommendation on the matter. Tweens must haf names.” She scribbled the names in the chart. “Now, they haf good names. What they need is good home.”

“Could someone from England adopt them?”

The nurse looked around the room at all the babies, “I think it is possible. We have so many. You would have to speak with the administrator. He will know what papers are needed for international adoptions.”

“I'm going to make the rounds and check on all the children and talk to the administrator, I will come back to see them tomorrow, if that is alright?”

“Da, you may come tomorrow and play on mats, give exercise. They like you.”

The nurse was right, the babies were looking up at her and babbling happily to her. She briefly examined both babies, and they were indeed perfectly healthy, albeit in need of new, dry nappies.

The other children were equally well cared for. One boy needed antibiotics for an ear infection, and another older child had a sprained wrist from falling off the upper bunk wrestling, but all in all normal, healthy children.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Helen returned to her hotel and fell into an exhausted sleep. She woke early the next morning, anxious to see the babies, again. She loved babies, and these two were important to her, for obvious reasons.

After breakfast, Helen took the bus back to the orphanage. The place was in an uproar to say the least. The nurses were crying, and the children were crying and everyone was talking so fast Helen could only make out a few broken strains of conversation.

In the nursery, Magnus was greeted by shouts. “Doctor... oh Doctor. Something terrible has happened. Men came, they had guns. They took children, lots of children. They shoot the administrator and take the children way.”

Helen rushed over to the last crib and to her horror, it was empty. Elizabeth and her twin were gone. “No, dear God, they are babies!”

“They take all the babies, first. The older kids, they leave... Like I say to you.” The nurse started to cry. “The babies they can sell, make much money?”

Helen gritted her teeth, furious. Was this how Elizabeth's life was meant to start? If it was, it was manifestly unfair. To be sold like a piece of meat in a market. She took a deep breath. “The authorities will investigate won't they?”

“I do not know. They are orphans...”

“Were any of the other foundling homes hit last night?”

“No. I do not think so. But, where will the monsters take so many babies? They will need food, yes?”

“Yes.” Helen turned on her heel and stalked out of the building, determined to check the other orphanages for missing children.

One other location was in a similar chaos, with a dead administrator and eleven missing infants and toddlers. That brought the total to twenty three. The only things they could tell her was that the children were loaded into a black van.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Helen was able to work with the authorities and track the van 1400km to Grozny, Chechnya. From there, the children were divided and Helen and the police were only able to get two of the six groups back.

In the second raid, Magnus found a single familiar face in the cribs. It damn near broke her heart when she checked for the birthmark she knew lay on Elizabeth's left shoulder, and didn't find it. This was Victoria. Her Elizabeth was gone, and Helen cried for her.

The Grozny authorities took the children and found homes for them in surrounding cities. It wasn't what Helen wanted, but she wasn't in a position to demand that a Ukrainian born baby be given to her. Knowing what she knew about the future of the area and all the war and carnage, Helen pushed to have the baby girl adopted as far from Grozny as possible.

Helen met the older, wealthy couple who adopted Victoria and was happy to learn they were going to keep her name. She told them of the twin who was stolen, so the girl would grow up with at least the hope of finding her twin sister, Elizabeth.

When there was nothing more she could do, Helen kissed the baby's cheek, and went home. Eventually, Helen wasn't able to track the girl any longer. The Soviet Union broke up and her contacts couldn't locate Victoria or her family after that. It didn't stop her from trying.

Helen prayed each night that Elizabeth was safe and happy like her sister, even though she knew it wouldn't always be the case.

The night James called her to tell her he found a group of Abnormal children in a slum in London, Helen hung up the phone and wept with joy. It killed her to avoid contact with Elizabeth as she grew up, but it was a necessary evil for their future, so she suffered in silence, and tried to find Victoria while she waited.

When the time was right, Helen donned her best bondage gear and went to find her lover at Subterra in New York City. She'd waited long enough.  
Chapter End Notes:  
I hope you will read and review, but go ahead and lurk. ;-P


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